-LRB- CNN -RRB- Peter Schipper presses a key on the enormous Wurlitzer organ console in front of him and a police siren wails across the cinema stage .

A second key brings the sound of tweeting birds , and another the clopping sound of horse hooves , as if someone is standing off-stage with a pair of coconut shells .

Then he flexes his fingers , leans in to the array of keyboards and launches into a cheery rendition of `` I 'm Getting Sentimental Over You . ''

The organ 's pipes throb , sing and trill with the power of a full orchestra .

Were if not for for the fact Schipper is wearing jeans and a plaid shirt , we could be transported back to the early 1940s , when the Wurlitzer-Strunk organ was in its heyday at the Tuschinski Theater -- an immaculately preserved art deco cinema in the heart of Amsterdam .

The Tuschinski was an opulent masterpiece when it opened in the 1920s -- its owner , Abraham Icek Tuschinski , took pains to equip it with the best organ his money could buy .

A Jewish immigrant originally from Poland , Tuschinski was killed along with his family in a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War and his cinema renamed the Tivoli .

After the war it reverted to its original name and in the 1980s benefited from an expensive restoration project that returned much of its original grandeur .

Fascination with insects

Today it 's a fully functioning three-screen film theater operated by French cinema chain Pathe .

The Pathe Tuschinski Cinema regularly rolls out the red carpet for movie stars as the location for most major premieres in the Netherlands .

The lushly decorated lobby and grand hall -- with elaborate fixtures and decorations said to be inspired by Tuschinski 's fascination with insects -- are impressive enough , but the cinema 's star attraction is its Wurlitzer organ .

It 's still capable of producing rich sounds , largely thanks to the efforts of a team of volunteers from the Dutch Organ Federation , who use mechanical ingenuity to keep the instrument going .

`` When we first took her apart , she was in a very bad condition , '' said Dick Cuiper , a 55-year-old computer programmer who worked on a project to restore the organ with Schipper , a 67-year-old piano tuner , bookkeeper Pieter Kroon , 76 , and other volunteers and technicians .

`` It 's taken us many , many years to fix her up and get her working properly again . We 're not professionals , but we 've learned by doing it every day . ''

As Schipper continues playing , Cuiper and Kroon take great pride in crossing the main stage -LRB- once graced by visiting stars Marlene Dietrich and Judy Garland -RRB- and leading the way down to a series of cramped rooms where the organ 's innards vibrate to its mighty sounds .

A mechanical wooden bellows wheezes to fill the musical pipes with rushing air .

Automated percussion instruments boom and clash .

Old boots springs and air tubes

The organ is in immaculate order but , says Kroon , some of the machinery has been cobbled together from odds and ends .

`` You can not go to any store to buy the things the organ needs , they 're not made any more , '' he says . `` Instead , we have to produce them ourselves out of old boots , springs and air tubes . ''

Cuiper points to a series of glass-windowed wooden cabinets that house the organ 's main circuitry .

It would 've been simpler to tear them out and replace them with a modern computer processor , he explains , but the team preferred to recreate the original electrics .

`` It was a challenge for us , '' he says . `` But in 100 years someone will easily be able to fix this , and they wo n't be able to find the microchips they need to mend the computers . ''

Wanted : Young helpers

The volunteers still spend hours every week maintaining the organ , but time is limited because the cinema hosts a full program of movie screenings .

They face another problem .

Although the enthusiasm of Kroon and Schipper is as strong as ever , their advancing age means they need to find and train a new generation volunteers to keep the organ sounding its best .

The Wurlitzer still pulls in admirers .

Schipper gives regular performances to parties of schoolchildren and groups on the twice-daily guided tours of the Tuschinski , as well as special cinema events including screenings of the silent films it was originally installed to accompany .

The organ and theater also occasionally attract members of a dwindling group of Wurlitzer maestros -- including Americans R. Jelani Eddington and Lyn Larsen and Britain 's Len Rawle .

`` There 's always applause . It 's a great privilege for all of us to play , '' says Kroon .

`` She 's an old lady . You have to be careful with her , but you also have to play her because if you do n't , she will start to fail . ''

Pathe Tuschinski Cinema -LRB- website in Dutch -RRB- , Reguliersbreestraat 26-34 ; +31 900 1458 ; tours daily at 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. ; $ 10 per person

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Wurlitzer organ at the Tuschinksi Theater in Amsterdam dates to the theater 's opening in the 1920s

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A team of enthusiasts helps keep the organ in its its musical prime using odds and ends to replace parts no longer available

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The organ still attracts fans , playing to visitors on guided tours of the cinema